The German daily Die Welt has just revealed the existence of a 17-page peace agreement that could have ended the war in Ukraine just weeks after Russia began its invasion. Negotiators from both sides had worked hard on the agreement between February and April 2022, and the original version of this special document has now been made available to the German media. “In March 2022, only a few conditions were missing for the resolution of the conflict, which was to be ‘negotiated by Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit meeting – which never took place’”.
Die Welt reports the conditions issued by Moscow to Kiev: the renunciation of all military alliances, including its membership in NATO, the adoption of permanent neutrality, “partial demilitarization, the reduction of Kiev’s ground army to 85,000 soldiers instead of one million, the maintenance of Russian troops in Crimea annexed since 2014…” What could Ukraine expect in return? Its right to self-defense. “In the event of an armed attack against Ukraine, the guarantor states would have undertaken to help Kiev exercise its right to self-defense, as guaranteed by the United Nations Charter, within a maximum period of three days,” The German daily Die Welt has just revealed the existence of a peace agreement that could have ended the war in Ukraine just weeks after Russia began its invasion. Negotiators from both sides had worked hard on the agreement between February and April 2022, and the original version of this special document has now been made available to the German media.
Putin rues Soviet collapse as demise of ‘historical Russia. December 2021. President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago as the demise of what he called “historical Russia” and said the economic crisis that followed was so bad he was forced to moonlight as a taxi driver. Putin’s comments, released by state TV on Sunday, are likely to further fuel speculation about his foreign policy intentions among critics, who accuse him of planning to recreate the Soviet Union and of contemplating an attack on Ukraine, a notion the Kremlin has dismissed as fear-mongering. “It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” Putin said of the 1991 breakup, in comments aired on Sunday as part of a documentary film called “Russia. New History”, the RIA state news agency reported.
“We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost,” said Putin, saying 25 million Russian people in newly independent countries suddenly found themselves cut off from Russia, part of what he called “a major humanitarian tragedy”. Putin also described for the first time how he was affected personally by the tough economic times that followed the Soviet collapse, when Russia suffered double-digit inflation. Putin, who served in the Soviet-era KGB, has previously called the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was ruled from Moscow, as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, but his new comments show how he viewed it specifically as a setback for Russian power.
Ukraine was one of 15 Soviet republics and Putin used a lengthy article published on the Kremlin website this year to set out why he believed Russia’s southern neighbor and its people were an integral part of Russian history and culture. This view is rejected by Kyiv as a politically motivated and over-simplified version of history. The West has accused Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine in preparation for a possible attack as soon as January.
The Group of Seven wealthy democracies warned Moscow of massive consequences and severe costs if it attacked Ukraine. For Moscow, the growing NATO embrace of a neighboring former Soviet republic – and what it sees as the nightmare possibility of alliance missiles in Ukraine targeted against Russia – is a “red line” it will not allow to be crossed. Putin has demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons close to Russian territory; Washington has repeatedly said no country can veto Ukraine’s NATO hopes. In 2014 Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine, prompting the West to impose sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin on Sunday said that Putin told U.S. President Joe Biden that Russian troops posed no threat and that Moscow was being demonized for moving troops around its own territory. Putin and Biden have agreed to hold more talks.
According to Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine. The Kremlin said Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too. In December 2021 Putin and Biden agreed to hold more talks despite disagreements. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, and Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too. The Kremlin said Putin and Biden had agreed to hold more talks during a video call which focused on East-West relations, which have sunk to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War and are currently strained by the Russian troop build-up near Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had described the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 as the demise of “historical Russia,” a comment that could fuel speculation about his foreign policy intentions amid a buildup of tens of thousands of Russian troops in regions bordering Ukraine. “It was the disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” Putin said of the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union while speaking in a documentary film called Russia. Recent History that aired on state television on December 12 2021. “It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” Putin said of the 1991 breakup, in comments aired on Sunday as part of a documentary film called “Russia. New History”, the RIA state news agency reported. “We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost,” said Putin, saying 25 million Russian people in newly independent countries suddenly found themselves cut off from Russia, part of what he called “a major humanitarian tragedy”. Putin, who served in the Soviet-era KGB, has previously called the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was ruled from Moscow, as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, but his new comments show how he viewed it specifically as a setback for Russian power. Ukraine was one of 15 Soviet republics and Putin used a lengthy article published on the Kremlin website this year to set out why he believed Russia’s southern neighbor and its people were an integral part of Russian history and culture.
This view is rejected by Kyiv as a politically motivated and over-simplified version of history. The West has accused Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine in preparation for a possible attack. The Group of Seven wealthy democracies warned Moscow on Sunday of massive consequences and severe costs if it attacked Ukraine. The Kremlin said Russia had no plans to launch a fresh attack on Ukraine and that the West appeared to have convinced itself of Moscow’s aggressive intentions based on what it called false Western media stories. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and backed separatists who took control of a swath of eastern Ukraine that same year and who continue to fight Ukrainian government forces. The G7 said in a statement that “Russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost in response. “We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of any sovereign state to determine its own future.” A statement released by the Russian Embassy in London before the joint G7 document was reported, said that Britain’s frequent use of the phrase “Russian aggression” was misleading and designed to create a cause for the G7 to rally round. “Russia has made numerous offers to NATO on ways to decrease tensions. The G7 forum could be an opportunity to discuss them, but so far we hear nothing but aggressive slogans,” the embassy statement said.
President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago as the demise of what he called “historical Russia” and said the economic crisis that followed was so bad he was forced to moonlight as a taxi driver. Putin’s comments, further fueled speculation about his foreign policy intentions among critics, who accuse him of planning to recreate the Soviet Union and of contemplating an attack on Ukraine, a notion the Kremlin dismissed as fear-mongering. “It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” Putin said of the 1991 breakup, in comments aired on Sunday as part of a documentary film called “Russia. New History,” the RIA state news agency reported. “We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost,” said Putin, saying 25 million Russian people in newly independent countries suddenly found themselves cut off from Russia, part of what he called “a major humanitarian tragedy.” Putin also described for the first time how he was affected personally by the tough economic times that followed the Soviet collapse, when Russia suffered double-digit inflation. Putin, who served in the Soviet-era KGB, has previously called the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was ruled from Moscow, as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, but his new comments show how he viewed it specifically as a setback for Russian power.
Ukraine was one of 15 Soviet republics and Putin used a lengthy article published on the Kremlin website this year to set out why he believed Russia’s southern neighbor and its people were an integral part of Russian history and culture. This view is rejected by Kyiv as a politically motivated and over-simplified version of history. The West has accused Russia of massing 175,000 troops near Ukraine in preparation for a possible attack as soon as January. The G7 warned Moscow of massive consequences and severe costs if it attacked Ukraine. Moscow said the expansion of NATO threatens Russia and has contravened assurances given to it as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The Kremlin has said Russia has no plans to launch a fresh attack on Ukraine and that the West appears to have convinced itself of Moscow’s aggressive intentions based on what it calls false Western media stories.
CONCLUSION
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and has backed separatists who took control of a swath of eastern Ukraine that same year and who continue to fight Ukrainian government forces. The G7 said in a statement that “Russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost in response. “We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of any sovereign state to determine its own future.” A statement released by the Russian Embassy in London before the joint G7 document was reported, said that Britain’s frequent use of the phrase “Russian aggression” during the G7 meeting was misleading and designed to create a cause for the G7 to rally round. “Russia has made numerous offers to NATO on ways to decrease tensions. The G7 forum could be an opportunity to discuss them, but so far we hear nothing but aggressive slogans,” the embassy statement said.
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